9 Tips for Tracking Bands Live in the Studio

Photo by Flickr user Dave Kobrehel

Whether it’s for aesthetic reasons or simply to save money, I’ve seen a renewed desire among musicians to record as a full band in one room with no overdubs.

Tracking live can often be more difficult than expected however, as there are many more variables to contend than on a more controlled session.

Nevertheless, when done right, this can be a truly exciting way to make a record and deliver some of the organic studio magic we’re always looking for.

1) Prepare first: Ask lots of questions.

It’s wise to chat with people about specifics in detail before any kind of session, but it’s is especially important for a live-in-the-studio situation.

An engineer should be as prepared as possible before a live session, and knowing what to expect in terms of instrumentation, where those instruments should sit in the mix, and what the sonic focal point should be for each song beforehand.

It’s also important to find out what sort of live setting the artist wants to to emulate in the session. Should it be intimate? Arena-y? Atmospheric? Somewhere in between? These are ideas to establish before you place even a single microphone.

Also, consider what the overall vibe of the players and the band is. It’s no use trying to tighten up and articulate a band that’s more about looseness and interaction, and it’s equally useless to soften up a band who is all about punch, clarity and power. Let the music and musicians dictate the style.

2) Plot out the session and place mics beforehand

It can be very useful to visualize or draw out the session set up in advance, considering microphone patterns and instruments’ projection.

As often as possible, I like to set up the session the night before. A live studio recording is generally a big job, with just one chance to get things right, so I want to be as dialed in as possible for the next day.

Remember that the best position for instruments in the room will depend a lot on how their sound carriers through the air. If you have a fiddler and an acoustic guitarist standing right next to each other, chances are you’re going to want to pull your hair out later as the overhead violin mic doubles as a distant mic for the acoustic guitar. So, take time to place people in a way that takes into account which instrument projects where.

Consider the role of each instrument and how much power it has to project. Then, ask yourself what microphone pattern and placement will be best suited to achieve this. Use the null spots of microphones to control bleed. Remember: Bi-directional mics will reject signal from the sides, while cardiod mics will reject signal from the rear. Use these properties creatively to make sure that loud nearby instruments are in the null spot of other instruments’ mics.

For instance, it’s rarely wise to set musicians up like they’re on stage, where the sound from a drum kit will bleed into the amp and instrument mics in front of it. Turning your amps or acoustic instrumentalists around to face the drummer will let you take advantage of the rejection pattern of cardiod mics. Similarly, turing amps and instruments 90 degrees away from the drums will let you take advantage of the rejection of figure-8 mics. (The later approach can also keep bleed out of the drums if needed!)

3) Check the phase relationships between all nearby mics

If you’ve done your homework and placed mics so there’s not too much bleed, phase will be less of a problem. But phase relationships between closely-placed mics— especially those on the same instrument—are ever-important. Perhaps even more so when everyone is playing live!

This is not a difficult thing to test. Most preamps and consoles have a phase invert button, and if you’re working mainly inside the box, most EQ’s have a phase reverse switch built in. Try this switch flipped each way, and go for the combination that sounds fullest.

If you’re not entirely sure you’re getting it right, you can record a quick pass and then zoom in in on your DAW to look at the wavelengths up close. If the waveforms seem to be something like 90 degrees out of phase, your polarity switch won’t do you much good, and moving one mic until you can obtain more perfect phase relationship may help you establish a better and more stable tone.

4) Commit processing to “tape”

If a bit of processing is essential to your sound, commit to it by printing it as you record. This works not only for insert effects like compression and EQ, but for effects used in parallel as well.

I also find that experimenting with some unorthodox processing can yield some exciting and unique results. At one session I ran a horn section (in parallel) through a distortion pedal and bandpass filter. This gave a more exciting result while the band played and directed a bit of where the final mix would go.

I like to think of Phil Spector, and the classic session musicians who would playing along to the reverb as each take was being run. This kind of feedback informs the band of how everything will come together in the end, and they can tailor their performances accordingly.

Many times, I’ll use parallel drum compression while recording, put a tight slap-back delay on room mics, just so I can start to hear if things are coming together. If things are sounding great, printing these effects can be very useful. You never know if you’ll land on settings as good or better later on. If these tones are essential to the sound of the recording, letting musicians hear them and play along to them can even help.

This approach has the added benefit of bringing out bleed problems that might be troublesome later. For example, you might be compressing upright bass but you all of a sudden hear the strum on a guitar coming up because the guitarist is too close. Better to fix this now than to have it limit you in the final mix.

5) Check every track by recording a “warm up” take (or two)

Remember to take time to solo instruments and discover which ones may be problematic in terms of bleed or leakage.

As always, the way your instruments sound in context is the most important thing, but when it comes to tracking live, it’s not the only thing.

Your bass may sound great in the mix, but you may find yourself limited in your ability to bring it up or down later on if you have excessive bleed from other instruments.

Soloing each and every sound from your “warm up” takes can also help you catch some real “duh” moments, such as if the mic you so carefully placed is facing the wrong way or is set to “omni” by mistake. Oops! Try explaining that one to your client.

6) Pay close attention to intonation

This is not always the easiest topic to broach with musicians, so make sure that they understand first that you’re on their side, and explain that good intonation will make their music sound its best.

There’s a misunderstanding sometimes about what can and can’t be pitch-corrected effectively after the recording . Even if you can pitch correct a spot mic on an instrument, bleed complicates things, making instruments sound strange and chorus-y when pitch correction is applied.

This is one of the most challenging areas to stay on top of, as an oddly tuned note could make a whole take feel sour.

If you do think there’s a sour note in an otherwise stellar take, try punching the whole band in for just that section. Punching in a single instrument will change the bleed relationships considerably and make your edit much more obvious to the listener.

7) Make sure the band listens back after the first good take

Since recording live doesn’t offer maximum flexibility later on, it’s important that the artist understands that what they hear is pretty much what they’ll get.

In the Wrecking Crew documentary, Cher recounts “It was amazing to record with a live band, because after recording you went back and listened, and either it had the magic or it didn’t.” Similarly, you should make sure the musicians are listening for that magic during the session, and do not expect it to happen later in mixing.

Make sure to address any issues with performance and tone now because fixing it in the mix just is never a surefire option. That goes double for live band sessions.

8) Mark spaces on the floor, write down mic positions for each instrument

I’ve been in sessions on both sides of the glass, and can say with confidence that musicians are concerned with performing at the top of their game—not with remembering exactly where they are standing in the room, or where mics are placed on their instrument. The engineer needs to be the one to keep track of these small but very important details.

Put a strip of tape down on the floor where a musician is standing, and take note of exactly where the mic is pointing on his or her instrument. Even with so much attention to location, someone will inevitably turn or shift with his or her instrument enough to throw things off.

With this in mind, it’s very useful to look for and note relationships between mics and instruments when you do the original placement. For example “mic points toward the discoloration under the guitar’s bridge” or “mic facing the 12th fret where neck joins the body.”

9) Take D.I.s where possible. (Even if you don’t think you’ll use them.)

Direct outs may not always sound great instruments by themselves, but they can be a Godsend when it comes to mixing. A tiny bit of direct acoustic guitar with the right EQ, for example, can supplement the live-tracked guitar enough so that you can place it just the way you like it in the mix.

For those willing to experiment, contact mics can be a fun addition to drums as well. A contact mic on the kick, for example, can provide you with just enough sub to give the drum the power it needs, and can work well with drum triggers and additional creative processing.

Now you have some ideas as to how to make a live recording you can be proud of. Remember to prepare extensively, communicate with the artist, and manage the session carefully, with attention to detail.

Rich Bennett is an engineer, producer, composer, and guitarist who grew up in New York City. He is the owner of Acme Hall Studios, a recording studio and music education space in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

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